Control device for use in elevator shaft



p 10, 1957 K. A. KRAMER 2,805,735

CONTROL DEVICE FOR USE IN ELEVATOR SHAFT Filed 001;. 4, 1954 2Sheets-Sheet l 2nd Floor N ,4 T TORNE Y5 United States Patent CONTROLDEVICE FOR USE IN ELEVATQR SHAFT Karl Adolf Kramer, Bedford Village, N.Y., assignor to Staley Elevator Company, Inc, New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application October 4, 1954, Serial No. 466,6'0711 Claims. (Cl. 187-29) This invention relates to apparatus forcontrolling the operation of elevators, and more especially elevators ofthe class which are operated by the passengers using them.

It is an object of the invention to provide improved control circuitsfor elevators of the character indicated, and to provide controlcircuits which do not require car contacts to touch electric contacts atevery floor to close circuits that keep the system operating properly.

In accordance with one feature of the invention, inductive means areprovided for actuating control apparatus in response to the passage ofthe different floors of the building by the elevator car, and theinductive means are constructed in such a way that their operation isnot affected by swaying of the elevator car during its travel up anddown the shaft. By eliminating the actual contacts at every floor,maintenance work and costs are substantially reduced.

The invention has the further advantage of making the operation of thecontrol circuits more reliable, elimiating Wear, and allowingsubstantial tolerances in the locating and adjustment of the parts ofthe control apparatus that are located at the different floors of thebuilding.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear orbe pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of an elevator located in a shaft withinductive control means at selected positions along the shaftcorresponding to the different floors of the building in which the shaftis located;

Figure 2 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken on the line 2-2 ofFigure 3, and showing the location of inductive control apparatus on topof the elevator car;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic top plan view showing the location of theinductive control coils with respect to the inductive vanes on the sidesof the elevator shaft, and with respect to the rails along which theelevator car runs in its movement up and down the shaft;

Figure 4 is a wiring diagram showing the control circuits of thisinvention, the wiring diagram being restricted .to three floors in orderto avoid unnecessary duplication; and

Figure 5 shows a modification of a portion of the wiring diagram.

Figure 1 shows an elevator car with shoes 11 which run along rails 12 onopposite sides of an elevator shaft in a building. The levels of thedifferent floors along the shaft are indicated on the right in Figure 1.The elevator car 10 is supported by a cable 14 which winds on a drum 15at the top of the elevator shaft. A counterweight 16 balances the weightof the car 10.

The drum 15 is rotated by an electric motor 20 operating throughreduction gearing in a housing 21. The reduction gearing has a shaft, 22which extends from one end of the reduction gear housing 21, and thereis a brake drum 23 secured to the shaft 22. Friction brake elements 24are operated by spring-and-solenoid operated mechanism 25 which releasesthe brake elements 24 when the solenoid is energized, and applies thebrake eleents to the drum 23 by strong spring pressure, when thesolenoid of the operating mechanism 25 is de-energized. This springpressure will stop the car; but in the preferred embodiment of theinvention an additional grip brake is used by applying a final andgreater friction force by means of a solenoid 26 just before the carreaches its correct level at a floor where it is to stop. No furtherexplanation of the brake mechanism is necessary for a completeunderstanding of this invention.

For present purposes it is sufficient to understand that the car 10 isoperated up and down in the elevator shaft by the motor 20 which isrotated in opposite directions depending upon the intended direction ofmovement of the elevator car. During the travel of the car 10 along therails 12, coils 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 (Figure 3), attached rigidly tothe car 10 by brackets 35 move into cooperative relation with vaneslocated along the shaft and indicated generally by the referencecharacters 36, 37 and 38.

Figures 2 and 3 show the vane 37 in its relation to the car It). Thevane 37 is a fin or plate portion and it has a bracket portion 39 whichis clamped on the rail 12 by detachable fastening means comprisingscrews 40. This bracket portion of the vane can be adjusted lengthwiseof the rail by loosening the screws 40. The vane 36 is of similarconstruction and has its bracket portion clamped to the rail 12 at adifferent level from the vane 37 as shown in Figure 1. There aredifferent vanes 36 and 37 for the difierent floors. The vanes 36 and 37lie in vertical planes and in positions to pass through gaps betweencoils 39 and 31, and 31 and 32, respectively, as the car 10 travels upor down in the elevator shaft.

The adjustment of the vanes 36 and 37 lengthwise 0f the rail 12regulates the timing of the control apparatus with respect to thepositions of the car 10 relative to the different floor levels.

The vanes 38 are also provided with bracket portions 35 similar to thoseof the vanes 37 and similarly adjustable along the length of theright-hand rail 12. The vanes 33 extend vertically and are in positionsto pass through a gap between the coils 33 and 34 (Figure 3) when thecar 10 moves up and down in the elevator shaft. The vanes 38 control theapplication of the grip brake. The vanes 37 control the spring actuatedbrake when the elevator car is travelling up; and the vanes 36 controlthe friction brake when the car is travelling down, as will be morefully explained in connection with the wiring diagram.

The shoes 11 are attached to the elevator car by brackets 53 and theshoes have bearings at their inner ends which slide longitudinally inthe brackets 53 to compensate for some irregularity in the spacing ofthe rails 12 from one another. There are springs 54 holding the shoes 11in contact with the rails. From this description it will be apparentthat the principal sway of the car in the shaft is towards and from therails 12. It is a feature of the invention that the vanes 36, 37 and 38extend in the direction of this sway; and the circuits and relaysoperated by the inductive devices comprising the coils 39, 31, 32, 33and 34 and the vanes 36, 37 and 38 are made so that they operate withequal efficiency regardless of such minor voltage variations as occurwith different degrees of penetration of the vanes into the gaps betweenthe coils.

The clearances between the confronting ends of the coils 30, 31, 32, 33and 34 are more than enough to allow for the maximum swaying of the car10 in a direction transverse of the rails 12. Thus the vanes 36 and 37never touch the coils but always pass between the confronting ends ofthe coils when the coils pass the levels of the shaft at which the vanesare located.

In the wiring diagram of Figure 4, the reference characters used arecombinations of letter and figure reference characters in order tocorrelate certain of the parts which are similar in function butintended for different floors, but more especially to correlate thecontacts with the operating coils. In order to bring all of the contactsinto positions close to their operating coils, the wiring diagram wouldbe immensely complicated. As illustrat:

ed, the contacts are located in the mostconvenient places for thecircuits which they control and without regard to the position of thecoils which actuate the contacts,

and the operating coils are identified by letters which are also a partof the reference characters of the contacts which the respective coilsoperate; for example, the.

will) operates each of thecontactsDl; D2; D4; and D5.

Push buttons P1, P2 and P3 are provided for each floor. Anon-interfering relay I is provided to cut out all of the push buttonsafter one push button has been pressed and the elevator car has moved inresponse to the closing of the circuit of the operated push button. Thecontrol apparatus has commutator mechanism 55 which is of the ratchettype well-known in the art. Such mechanism has two ratchet gears eachwith a set of teeth corresponding. to the number of floors which the carreaches. One ratchet gear is used for moving the commutator when the caris travellingvup and the other is used for rotating the commutatormechanism in the opposite direction when the car is travelling down.

The commutator mechanism 55 includes a cylindrical drum having aplurality of sections including a floor section FS and a dispatchsection DS. Both of these sections are similar and they have theirsurfacescovered with metal for conducting electricity to or from therespective brushes which contact with the metal sections of the drum.There are relatively short circumferential gaps between portions of themetal on the drum to provide neutral sections with which each brushcontacts when the commutator mechanism 55 is in thepositioncorresponding tothe location of the elevator car at theparticular floor represented by that brush. In Figure 4 the surface ofthe commutator drum is developed; i. e., the width of the sections FSand DS represents 360.

The commutator mechanism 55 is rotated in one direction, while the caris moving up in the shaft, by a magnetEU which operates a pawl to rotatethe ratchet gear of the commutator mechanism one step for each floorpassed by the elevator car. Conversely, the commutatormechanism 55 isrotated in the opposite direction, with a similar step by step movementby a magnet ED during the downward movement of the car in the elevatorshaft.

These magnets ED and EU, which are referred to as jump magnets becauseof the intermittent operation which they produce in the rotation of thecommutator drum, receive periodicpulses of power from the coils and 32,respectively, through relays DIR and UIR, when the elevatorcar passesthe different vanes 36 and 37 located along the. elevator shaft. Therelays DIR and UJRhave contacts DIR-1 and UJR-l, respectively, in series.with the magnets ED and EU. Normally, the coils of the relays D] R andU] R are energized and hold their contacts DIR-1 and UIR-l open, butwhen the secondary. coils 3t) and 32 are momentarily deenergized by themagnetic short circuiting of the coils 30 or 32 by passing the vanes 36and 37, the contacts DIR-1 and UIR-l momentarily close to supply a pulseof power to the magnet ED or EU.

The vane 36 that controls the shutting ofi of the power and theapplication of the spring brake for stopping the elevator car at thefirst floor is indicated in Figure 4 by the-reference character-364; andthatfor the second floor by the reference character 36-2. The thirdfloor being the top floor in Figure 4, no vane 36 is necessary for thatfloor.

In like manner, the vane 37 that controls the shutting off of the powerof the spring brake operation for stopping the upwardly moving elevatorcar at the second floor is indicated by the reference character 37-2;and that for the third floor by 37-3.

The floor section PS of the commutator mechanism 55 is used to controlfloor relays F1, F2 and F3. The, metal portion of the floor sections PSestablishes circuits with the floor relays through brushes 1P, 2F and3F; but when the car is located at any particular floor, the brushcorresponding to that floor is over a neutral portion of the floorsection PS; for example, in Figure 4 the car is located on the thirdfloor and the brush 3F is over the neutral section of the drum. BrushesFU and FD connect the. floor section FS with. a negative side L2 of thepower line.

The dispatch section D8 of the commutator mechanism 55 is similar to thefloor section FS, and has brushes 1D, 2D and 31) connected with contacts2P1, 2E2 and 253, respectively, these contacts being operated by thecorresponding coils of the floor relays F1, F2. and F3 respectively.connected through contacts D1 and U1, respectively, with up and downrelays'U and D, respectively.

The other vanes 33 located along the elevator shaft are indicated inFigure 4 by the reference characters 384, 33-2, and 38-3. These vanescontrol the operation of the grip brake of the elevator when' the, car.reaches the exact floor level.

The coil 31. is connected across the opposite sides'Ll. and L2 of thepower line so that this coil serves as the; primary winding of atransformer having the coils. 30 and 32 as secondary windings. Whentheiron vanes 36, and 37 move through the space between the coil 31 and thesecondary coils 3% or 32, respectively, the magnetic. circuit of thesecondary coil is short-circuited and, there is a sudden change in thevoltage supplied to the relays UJR and DIR as previously explained.

If a personenters the car 10 at the third floor, he will close thelanding door of the elevator shaft on which there is a door switch 57,and then close the gate. ofthe elevator car onwhich there is a gateswitch 58. Ifthe:

passenger desires to go to the second floor, he will push. the button 2Pand this completes a circuit from one side 11 of the power line, throughcontacts II, which are.

opened byv the relay coil 1. to disconnect .all, of theelevatorpushbuttons from the circuit while the-car is'operating, throughpushbutton F2 for relay coil E2, to contact brush 2F, and then throughone section of the. commutator drum to brush PD and to the other side ofL2, of.

the power line. This circuit energizes the floor relay F2.

When this floor relay F2 is energized, it closes the. contacts 1P2 and2P2. The contacts 1P2 establish a holding circuit for the relay F2 toinsure that the circuit will remain closed after pressure on the pushbutton P2 is released. The contacts 2P2 complete a circuit through thedown direction magnet D. This circuit extends from the power line L1,through the, gateswitch 58, door switch 57, contacts 2P2, brush 2D,dispatch section of the commutator 55, brush DD, contacts U1, and magnetcoil D to the other side L2 of the power line. It will be understoodthat this operation for'moving the elevator car to the second floorismerely illuss trative,.and that if the passenger pushed somerotherbutton for some other floor, other circuits would be closedcorresponding to the particular floor to which the elevator car is to bemoved.

When the down direction magnet D, is energized, it operates the.contacts D1, D2, D3, D4, D5 and D6. It moves these contacts from' thepositions shown in the contacts. which are shownasclosed, .such; as thecontacts,

Other brushes DU and DD, are:

D1 and D6 are opened when the down magnet coil D is energized, and thosecontacts which are shown in the wiring diagram as open, such as thecontacts D2, D3, D4 and D5, are moved into closed positions. The purposeof the contacts D1 is to provide a safety inter-lock for the up magnet Uso that it is not possible for this magnet to be energized while thedown magnet D is energized. The purpose of the contacts D2 is tocomplete a circuit through the non-interfering relay I, which whenenergized opens the contacts 1], thereby disconnecting all of the pushbuttons from the power line L1.

The contacts D3 are closed to prepare a circuit for the down jump magnetED; and the contacts D4 and D5 complete the circuit to the elevatormotor and to a solenoid coil 60 which releases the elevator brake. Thecontacts D4 and D5 also connect the motor 20 with the power line L2 andwith a third power line L3 which is used to supply three phase currentto the motor 29.

As the elevator car moves down in the elevator shaft, the contacts D3are held closed by the energizing of the down magnet D, to prepare thecircuit of the jump magnet ED to rotate the commutator mechanism 55 intoposition to bring the brushes 2F and 2D opposite neutral sections of thecommutator drum. This breaks the circuit of the relay F2 and causes thecontacts 1P2 and 2F2 to open. The opening of these latter contacts 2P2breaks the circuit to the down magnet D, and this causes the contacts D1and D6 to move into their normally closed positions, while the contactsD2, D3, D4 and D5 move into open positions. This shuts oif the power tothe motor 20 and de-energizes the brake release coil 6t) so that thespring brake is applied.

As the elevator slides toward the floor level of the second floor, thetransformer comprising the coils 33 and 34 reaches the vane 38-2 andthis vane passes through the space between the coils 33 and 34,magnetically short circuits the transformer and causes a sharp currentdrop in the coil of a relay STR. The contacts STR-l of the relay STRclose when the current drops in the coil of the relay and they establisha circuit to a relay BR, if the contacts U6 and D6 are also closed.Energizing of the brake relay BR closes the contacts BR-1 to establish aholding circuit for the relay BR, and also closes the contact BRZ tocomplete a circuit to another brake solenoid 64. This solenoid 64applies the brake to the brake drum with increased pressure and suppliesenough additional friction to bring the car to a rapid stop at the floorlevel.

This second stage brake application, is a feature of patent applicationSerial Number 384,688 filed October 7, 1953 by Marcellus Staley forbi-po-wered brakes, and such brakes are conveniently and effectivelyoperated by the inductive devices of this invention; but it will beunderstood that this invention is applied also to elevator controlswhich do not have the bi-powered brake system and in which thetransformer coils 33 and 34, and the vanes 38 are unnecessary.

When the passenger leaves the car 10, he will open the door switch 57and this breaks the holding circuit of the brake relay BR and thusreleases the magnetic brake which is operated by the solenoid coil 64.

Although Figure 4 shows the control circuit for an elevator serving onlythree floors, it will be understood that the system can be modified toany desired number of floors by merely duplicating sets of controls forthe other floors in a manner which will be evident from Figure 4.

For emergency stopping of the elevator, a stop switch 65 is providedwhich includes normally closed contacts 66 in the circuit with the doorswitch 57 and gate switch 58. Opening of the contacts 66 breaks thecircuit through either the up magnet U or the down magnet D, dependingupon which direction the car is travelling, and thus cuts off the powerto the motor, and breaks the circuit of the brake release solenoid 60.

Figure 5 shows a modified transformer construction. Corresponding partsare indicated by the same reference characters as in Figure 4, but witha prime appended. The secondary coil 32 is connected across a portion ofthe coil 31 by conductors 71 and 72. This circuit obtains a measure ofauto-transformer action and the response of the transformer to thepassage of a vane 37" between the coils 31' and 32 can be adjusted bychanging the point at which the conductor 72 connects with the coil 31.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, but changes and modifications can be made, and some featurescan be used alone or in different combinations without departing fromthe invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A control system for an elevator car that moves up and down in ashaftway, along guide rails located on opposite sides of the shaftway,and past a plurality of floor landings, said control system comprisinginductive means some of which modify the magnetic fields of otherelements of the inductive means when passed through said fields, some ofthe means being located on the side of the shaftway and some on the carin such position that there is relative movement of the field-modifyingmeans through said magnetic fields during travel of the car up and downthe shaftway, some of the inductive means ineluding primary andsecondary windings with a space between them open at the top and bottomand on one side toward a confronting side of the shaftway on which theguide rails are located, and the field modifying inductive meansincluding a mass of magnetizable material that projects into the spacebetween the primary and secondary windings when the car is atpredetermined levels in the shaftway, some of the inductive means beingat spaced regions along the shaftway corresponding to the level at whichthe controls for a car motor and brake must be operated to stop the carat the respective floor landings, the width of the open side of thespace between the windings being greater than the width of the mass ofmagnetizable material by an amount in excess of the transverse sway ofthe elevator car with respect to the guide rails, and control elementsfor selectively making different ones of the inductive means activedepending upon the floor landing at which the elevator car is to bestopped.

2. The combination with an elevator car that moves up and down in ashaftway to serve different floors of a building, of rails extendingalong opposite walls of the shaftway and track-engaging means on the carin position to run along the rails and guide the car during its movementup and down in the shaftway and a transformer with primary and secondarywindings carried by the car and separated by a gap extending from thecar toward a wall of the shaftway on which the rails are located, andcontrol devices including a plurality of vanes located at differentlevels along the shaftway and in positions to pass through said gap ofthe transformer as the car and transformer move up and down in theshaftway, the width of the gap between the coils being greater than thesum of the vane width and the maximum sway of the car transversely ofthe rails on which the track engaging means run.

3. The combination with an elevator car that moves up and down in ashaftway to serve different floors of a building, of rails extendingalong opposite sides of the shaftway and track engaging means on the carin position to run along the rails and guide the car during its movementup and down in the shaftway, and pieces of magnetic material atdifferent levels in the shaftway and extending from the side of theshaftway toward the car and from the side of the shaftway that has therails, and control devices including a plurality of induction coilslocated on the car on the same side as the railsgthe induction coilsin"- cluding a primary and a secondary'winding with space between themopen' on the nearest side toward the railsand open at its upper andlower ends for passage of'the pieces of magnetic material for modifyingthe magnetic field of the windings and producing a current change withinthe circuits'of said windings, a relay directly connected with thecircuit of at least one of the windings and directly responsive to thecurrent change in that circuit, the space between the primary andsecondary windings being greater than the sum of the vane width and themaximum sway of the car transversely of the rails on which thetrack'engaging'means run.

4. The combination described in claim 3 and in which there are controldevices: for' a power supply circuit to a motorthat operates theelevator and a circuit that controls operation of a brake, the pieces ofmagnetic material including one group for controlling the motor powerand the brakewhen the car is moving'upwardly in the elevator shaft and adifferent group for controlling the motor power and brake when the caris moving'downwardly in the elevator shaft.

5'. A control system for an elevator car that moves up and down in ashaftway and pasta plurality of floor landings, said control systemincluding inductive means and other means that modify the magneticfields or" the inductive means when passed through said fields, some ofsaid means being located on the side of the shaftway and others on thecar'in position to pass close to the means on the ,shaftway so-that saidmagnetic fields are modified as the car passes the levels of therespective means located on the shaftway, some of the inductive means onthe shaftway being located in position to control the stopping ofthe'elevator car at the respective fioor landings when the car is movingin an upward direction in the shaftway, and others of the inductivecontrol means being located in position in the shaftway to control thestopping of the car whenmoving in a downward direction, said inductivemeans on the shaftway being located in vertical alignment with oneanother, and automatic switch means for selectively rendering the upinductive control means and 6 A control system for an elevator car thatmoves up' and down in a shaftway and past a plurality of different floorlandings of a building, said control system including,

a circuit for connecting'a motor for the car across a power line, acircuit for connecting brake operating means across a power line,magnetizable vanes located at pre-determined and different levels alongthe shaftway, a transformer carried by the car and having primary andsecondary windings with a gap between them extending'in a direction forthe vanes to pass through the gap of the transformer at the respectivelevels to produce a varia tion of current in the secondary winding ofthe transformer, switch means for controlling the motor and brakecircuits, and actuating means for said switch means connected incircuits of the secondary winding of the transformer.

7. The control system described in claim 6 and in which there are twotransformers and the control devices ofthe system include a jump magnetfor controlling the system when the elevator car is moving upwardly inthe shaftway, and another jump magnet for controlling the system whenthe elevator car is moving in the opposite direction in the shaftway,one of the jump magnets being operated from the secondary circuit of onetransformer and the other jump magnet being operated from the secondarycircuitof' the other transformer.

8. A control system for an elevator car that is moved up'and down in ashaftway by the operation of an electric motorand mechanism driven bythe motor and that is stopped when the car is at selected floor levelsalongthe shaftway, by the application of a brake to said mechanism, theelevator car having track engaging means that run along rails located onopposite sides of the shaftway, said control system'including controldevices for the power supply to the motor and for the power supplyto-the brake, operating means for said control devices including twogroups of vanes of magnetizable material one group including a vane foreach fioor except the top floor, the vane for each floor level beinglocated in position for shutting off the power and applying the brake tothe car before the car reaches that floor level, the other group ofvanes including a vane for each floor except the bottom floor witheachvane of said' other group being located inposition to shut off thepower and apply the brake to the elevator car before the car reachesthat floor level when moving in an upward direction, magnetic meanscarried by the car in position to pass close to the respective vaneswhen the car is travelling up and down in the shaftway, and automaticcontrol means responsive to a direction indicator of the control systemfor rendering the downcontrol magnetic means unresponsive when theelevator car is moving upwardly, and for rendering the up-controlmagnetic means unresponsive when the elevator car is moving downwardly.

9. The control system described in claim 8, and in which the magneticmeans carried by the car includes a primary and a secondary coil withspace between said coils open at the top and bottom and with thelongitudinal axes of the coils extending horizontally in a directiontoward a side of' the shaftway' other than those on which the rails arelocated, and in which the vanes are supported from the track and extendinto the space between the primary and secondary windings of themagnetic means'and' the space between the primary and secondary windingsis greater than the maximum sway of the car in a direction transverse ofthe rails.

10. The control system described in claim 8 and in which there isanother transformer on the car and other vanes at pro-determined levelsalong the shaftway for controlling the application of a bi-poweredbraking force to stop the car at an' accurate level with the respectivefloors.

11. The combination comprising an elevator car that moves up and down inan elevator shaft, a control system for causing" the car to travelselectively upwardly or downwardly in the shaft and to stop at selectedfloors, the control system including electro magnetic means carriedby'the car and including an induction magnet, means for inducing anoutput voltage in the induction magnet, other means at locations in theelevator shaft corresponding to the different floors in position tolower the output voltage of the induction magnet when the car is passingsaid locations in the elevator shaft, and elements in the controlsystemresponsive to the changes in current in the induction magnetcircuit for stopping the elevator.

References Citedinthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,948,685 Stevens Feb; 27, 1934 2,189,193" Brown Feb. 6, 1940 2,491,948Berkovitz' Dec; 20, 1949' 2,643,741 Esselman June 30, 1953

